Game of the Year: Complete Ultimate Gold Game of the Year Edition

Of these grand titles, they’re back in the regular rotation of gaming news; No reviews, no controversy, no late to the party analysis, just, repackaged for retail shelves again. Complete Editions, Ultimate Edition, and most excessively used of all, Game of the Year Editions. Neat, collect every bit of post-launch content and the main game all for a reduced price in one compacted case. Sacrifice time and popularity for a manageable price tag. Harmless?

Nope

Arrogant, condescending, and above all, conflicting, the precedence of reproduced discs sprinkled with Downloadable content (DLC) lorded over after public catapult is more disgusting than consumer friendly. Repeatedly, these discounted deals flood our markets in smattering of a year or four months down the line of initial drop.

This culture fragments an audience and potential fans with this split decision. If you’re a publisher or developer known for this kind of gawking, and the consumers catch on to it, paying the $60 standard, then the season pass, then the DLC outside of the season pass is utterly silly. Squatting on the fence about a game, knowing of the forthcoming add-on packs and deducted early purchases, well, you see where this is going.

With the recent announcement of Ultimate Injustice: Gods Among Us, packing a whopping $120 in total content for $60, it baffles as to how we’re expected to accept this. Not even four months have passed and here’s a re-release of that fighting game from April with the litany of paid support throughout the spring and summer, and now it’s for sale once more this November 12th , the “Complete” package.

We’re becoming accustomed to these “final” versions of games, where content for the game specifically cuts off. Before the advent (break out the cane) of online infrastructure and downloading stuff for a game in general, games were finished. When it releases for purchase, developers enjoy the launch and moved on to the next of the series or work on something new. Now we expect to see powerhouse titles crawl back up to relevance with DLC code sheets plopped in them.

This gaming culture of a “final” version of a game implies the stuff propped out at launch, the *vanilla* version, isn’t worth your time or money. Sure, the zeitgeist of memes, in jokes, and controversies elude you. Gamers are roving hordes of cattle, flocking to one patch of new releases and redundant multiplayer to another. However, we are being played.

Appointing something “Game of the Year” is no small feat. Every reputable site rage on and debate for days on whether if apple A matches the quality if not exceed orange T’s, only for publishers to undercut the term for a profuse, cynical use. Yes, not only do they tell you not to buy day one, it diminishes the value of the term, Game of the Year. Prisoner’s dilemma doesn’t even scratch the surface here. If one does it, everyone else with a critically praised title hops aboard, thus sinking whatever Game of the Year means.

Games like Dead Island and the original Borderlands didn’t nearly deserve an accolade of that caliber over everything else in their respective years. What gave the permission to anoint themselves (their game) the *thing* to play from 2011 or 2009 when, comparably, critically mediocre overall. Rule out functionally and tonally superior games like Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Portal 2, Skyrim, Uncharted 2, Arkham Asylum, and more to serve its own self-aggrandizing goal. Further development of “GOTY-ing” games begins to dissolve the term into a cliché, a gimmicky buzzword.

Moment of silence, please

You’d think a passerby understands the message being conveyed, yet we must continue this trend in fear of consumers not finding the appeal. Worst part about it is, they aren’t stupid, give them some credit. Supporters of slapping on that sub-header defend by the “to sway clueless buyers” or “a Seal of quality for those not in the know.” Yes, Game of the Year Editions address the quality, though quite redundant actually.

It indicates shoppers this *thing* is worth their time because of the exclamatory statement. Although, the accompanying quotes, scores, and review sites cluttering the cover do enough of a justice for the gaming inept. They can comprehend a “9/10″ or a “best fighting game in years” and straightaway strikes up interest in said title because of the positivity emitted on the cover or on ads.

So take note, readers, if a high-profile AAA game releases with promises of DLC and add-on content, wait a couple of months for the “Komplete” form of the game.

Troll Tuesday does what it intends. Intentionally irritate, yet insights on issues of the Industry, always on Tuesday whenever ready and always teasing whenever needed.